I wrote my ol' college prof about this and told him it would make for a good cush question. Here's his reply:
quote:
That is one cush question that I could have answered easily. I was at President Foster's grave several times when it was located near the railroad tracks (Marion Pugh and Luther). I was on the faculty at the time, and we were not very proud that a former president was resting at that location, so we were considering a move. No decision was made, however. I think the college didn't want to spend the money to pay for burial sites in the College Station City Cemetery. As a result of the publicity, the college did promise to keep the little cemetery mowed and cleared of trash. I was over there several times, and I found the cemetery to be neat and clean. As I remember it, there were 8 to 10 graves in the cemetery.
Originally, the A&M College Cemetery was located in a sheep or horse pasture. I remember seeing it as a boy in the 1930's when my parents were attending summer school at A&M. We lived in a house that was located on George Bush Drive where the Hillel Jewish Student Center is now (the student center is currently being re-built).
When the 12 dorms that became the Quad and Duncan Dining Hall were in the planning stages (around 1937--38), it was decided to locate the buildings in the pasture, so the cemetery was moved to the Luther Street location.
The new dorms and dining hall were completed in time for the 1939-40 academic year. The dorms were well-equipped for fire protection--there were fire hoses on every floor that first year. I was a Fish in Dorm 1 the second year. Unfortunately, the fire hoses were long gone by then, so I missed out on all the fun. We were reduced to using waste baskets for drown-outs, and could only dream about what it was like to drown out a sophomore with a fire hose. The upper classmen told us that when they opened the door and poked the nozzle in the room the occupants were slammed against the wall, where they were prisoners until the water was turned off.
When we asked why the fire hoses were removed we were told that the Commandant would rather see the dorms burn to the ground than let the cadets have a little fun.
If this story isn't true, it ought to be!
Jim Boone '44
It's nice to keep in touch with folks who have such a broad knowledge of historical facts and are willing to share them with you. BTW, he's one of the persons interviewed on the DVD "The True Story of Texas A&M". His dad and his mom both went to A&M (of course, his mom had to finish up at what is now TWU but she was a true maroon Aggie until the day she died last year!).
